The Spivey Building: East St. Louis' First and Only Skyscraper

East St. Louis, Illinois, doesn't appear in many architectural guidebooks, but it should. Located just across the river from downtown St. Louis, the city boasts some of the most interesting architecture in the whole region. While much of the city's building stock has fallen victim to neglect and demolition, parts of East St. Louis' downtown remains intact, awaiting the day when prosperity returns to the city and the abandoned buildings find new use. Hopefully that day will come before the wrecking ball does.

Originally known as Illinoistown, the history of East St. Louis stretches back to Native American settlements near Cahokia Mounds. It wasn't until after the Civil War, however, that the city really took off as St. Louis' industrial titans began to relocate factories to the east side of the Mississippi River. East St. Louis' leadership proved more lax and accommodating than those west of the river, allowing robber barons to found independent towns such as National City, Alorton and Monsanto (modern-day Sauget) to avoid paying taxes. For a century the deal worked, as East St. Louis benefited from the income its citizens earned at the neighboring stockyards and industries.

The Journal Building in downtown East St. Louis. | Chris Naffziger

As East St. Louis' population rose to 80,000 people in the twentieth century, beautiful buildings sprang up on Collinsville Avenue and the adjacent streets of downtown. On Missouri Avenue, A.T. Spivey purchased the East St. Louis Journal in 1915; in the coming decades, he would reap huge profits from the newspaper. But in boisterous (and often violent) East St. Louis, bravado ruled in the tough arenas of politics and business. Spivey soon realized his dream to reshape the city's skyline needed a grand gesture, one that would permanently put his name on the streetscape of East St. Louis.

The perfect solution? Spivey would build East St. Louis' first and only skyscraper next to the offices of the Journal. In 1925 he purchased the lot next door to his newspaper offices. Were property values in downtown East St. Louis really so exorbitant that a skyscraper made good financial sense? Not really, but Spivey nonetheless turned to Albert B. Frankel, a local architect, to design his new edifice. William Wimmer, a local builder, would become the general contractor. The name of the new vanity building? The Spivey Building, of course.